


Ugly Sweaters and Photos (HankCon)

by CrimsonFandomTrash



Series: Detroit: Become Human Stuff - HankCon & Reed900 Hell [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Connor Deserves Happiness, Connor has updates to make him more human-like, Depressed Hank Anderson, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), First Christmas, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Hank Anderson Deserves Happiness, Hank Anderson Swears, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, as do most androids at this point, not beta read we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 15:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15866904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonFandomTrash/pseuds/CrimsonFandomTrash
Summary: And the fact that Hank was still asleep was really starting to piss him off. He had half a mind to go in the human's room and wake him himself, but that would just make him angry, and Connor didn't want to make Hank angry today. That doesn't push the thought from his mind that he could accidentally open Hank's door and accidentally drop Sumo on top of him and run, leaving the overgrown Saint Bernard to use the best alarm clock known to man; a dog's tongue. The whole reason Sumo slept in the living room was that Hank didn't want him to wake him up, so the thought of using this against Hank has occurred to Connor before. He's just never acted upon it.He looks over at Sumo, who seems pretty annoyed that their human isn't awake yet, and Connor decides to finally act on this impulse.In which Connor, Hank, and Sumo celebrate Christmas.





	Ugly Sweaters and Photos (HankCon)

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick reminder that this is a part of my 'Detroit: Become Human Stuff' series, so Connor can eat, as can most androids due to an update CyberLife came out with to make life a bit more enjoyable since androids have been set free. I'm fully aware that in the actual game he wouldn't have been able to eat breakfast with Hank, but he is in this fic because my boi is just tryna feel human here bros

_Saturday, **December**  25th,  **2038** , 1:05  **PM**_

   Connor was bored, not that that was anything new. Since becoming deviant, Connor finds himself bored a lot. Or really, not bored, but... Anxious, like if he sits still for too long, he'll end up exploding. He'd mentioned this to Hank once, and Hank had said something about him having ADHD or something like that. Connor had looked up the symptoms and decided that wasn't it, although it's likely Hank had been joking, or just didn't know all the symptoms of ADHD. Anxiety was also known to cause a difficulty sitting still, but Connor didn't know if he could really call it anxiety so much as restlessness. 

   Or, perhaps it was just anticipation. Today was Connor's first Christmas. Even if he'd been a deviant much sooner, he'd only been produced a few months ago, and originally had only been designed for the one case (but he doesn't want to think about that, given that he watched that little girl, Emma, fall to her death with the deviant Daniel, who Connor now knows was also alive, and he failed to save either of them, and--). Most androids who'd gone deviant had known many other Christmases with their families, but not Connor. 

   And the fact that Hank was still asleep was really starting to piss him off. He had half a mind to go in the human's room and wake him himself, but that would just make him angry, and Connor didn't want to make Hank angry today. That doesn't push the thought from his mind that he could  _accidentally_  open Hank's door and  _accidentally_  drop Sumo on top of him and run, leaving the overgrown Saint Bernard to use the best alarm clock known to man; a dog's tongue. The whole reason Sumo slept in the living room was that Hank didn't want him to wake him up, so the thought of using this against Hank has occurred to Connor before. He's just never acted upon it. 

   He looks over at Sumo, who seems pretty annoyed that their human isn't awake yet, and Connor decides to finally act on this impulse. With a smug smirk, Connor makes a small kissy noise, which gets Sumo's attention. The large dog treads across the floor before finally stopping at his feet. Connor digs through the kitchen cabinets before finding one of the boxes of dog treats. Sumo seems to already know what he's doing and gives a loud bark, to which Connor shushes him by giving him said treat. Sumo basically eats it up with one mouthful, and the evidence of Connor's bribery has vanished, not to be seen for a couple more hours, though it'll never be the same, blending in with everything else the dog has eaten. He makes a clicking sound, and Sumo looks up. He whistles and walks towards Hank's door. Sumo follows. 

   Sumo seems overjoyed that Connor is giving him access to a part of the house he rarely gets to see under these conditions. He opens the door, and the dog goes running in like if he doesn't get there in a certain amount of time, the opportunity will slip from his paws. He hops up on the bed, and Connor prays to rA9 that Hank won't be angry since it'll be pretty obvious who let Sumo in the room. He walks back into the living room, faintly hearing the sounds of Sumo waking their human up. 

  Instead of cursing or growling, like Connor had fully expected the Lieutenant to do, Hank honest to god laughs, and it's with surprise that Connor registers that fact. He doesn't hear Hank laugh very often. Or, like, at all, usually. "Mornin' Sumo. Merry Christmas." Shit, he knows what day it is too? That's not common either. Sumo gives a bark, and a message pops up in Connor's program--  _MISSION **SUCCESSFUL**_. "Connor let'cha in, didn't he?"

   Fuck, his cover's blown. He celebrated too early. He pops his head in the doorway. "Good morning, Hank." He says, trying to act innocent, or at least hoping his good mood would be contagious, now that rA9 has failed him. "Merry Christmas." He adds with a smile. 

   Hank is smiling, so apparently, rA9 hasn't failed him. Not that Connor ever really followed rA9, since no one had ever really given him a straight answer as to who he was-- not Ortiz's android, not Kamski, no one. But, he didn't follow the human's Christian God, either, so he doesn't really know who he'd been praying to in the first place. "Morning, Connor. Merry Christmas t'you, too."

   "Now that you're awake, would you like for me to make breakfast? I have a couple Christmas themed recipes I think you'll appreciate, though, it's a little late for breakfast, so we'll just call it brunch."

   "Yeah, please, I'm fucking starving. I'm gonna go take a shower while you do that, though. I smell like last night's bad decisions." The human sat up in bed and Sumo jumped down, having completed his mission. Connor imagined a similar  _MISSION **SUCCESSFUL**_  message popping up in the dog's field of vision, though he knew that was impossible. 

   Connor only nodded in response to what Hank had said as he rushed into the kitchen to get cooking. Hank averaged twenty to thirty minutes in the shower, usually, so he'd have about that long to at least get the meal most of the way done. Not that Hank would be mad if it wasn't done by then, Connor just had high standards for his timing. 

   He also had high standards for his cooking, which is why he was making his waffles from scratch, and not that out of the box just add water bullshit. Hank had looked at him all confused like when Connor had picked up a couple things in preparation for today. Food coloring and fruit weren't things that they commonly used, given that Hank didn't eat very healthily, and food coloring was usually used for baking, which Connor hadn't attempted just yet. He also looked at him weirdly for the flour, and now Connor is convinced Hank probably thinks he's gonna try baking a cake. 

   Little does he know Connor is making Christmas tree shaped waffles. You cut the waffles into fourths so that when you arrange them a certain way, they look like a tree. You use food coloring to make the waffles green, and you put fruit in the little waffle holes to look like ornaments. A few slices of pineapple at the top to mimic a star, and you have Christmas tree shaped waffles. A cute little recipe that was a little over twenty years old at this point that he found on a website called 'Pinterest'. Good thing the internet was forever. 

He'd also prepared a couple other things for today's breakfast in advance, knowing that one waffle tree wasn't going to fill Hank up, given that one waffle tree didn't quite meet the intake of calories someone would usually ingest at one meal-- it was only a little over what was considered a snack. Given that the plan had been slightly short notice, he'd not made donuts like he originally wanted to, so he ordered a box of Hank's favorite brand, and they had festive little green and red sprinkles on them in order to keep true to the Christmas theme. On top of that, he'd gotten candy cane flavored coffee creamer, which he already knew Hank liked, considering he's caught the older man sneaking candy canes off the Christmas tree already. 

   Speaking of the Christmas tree, it was a real one. Similar to how the human liked real books, because with electronic ones you couldn't, quote, 'smell the paper, see the pages turnin' yellow', he liked his Christmas trees real, too, more than likely for the reason of smelling the pine and watching the tree eventually wither away. As Connor had excitedly pointed at a tree he thought was perfect (which they both agree that it is, indeed, a perfect tree), Hank looked a bit sad. As he reflects back on it now, he assumes that the human had been reminiscing his son being just as excited to help pick out a tree, before his life had been cut short so tragically. 

   He shakes the thought from his head and continues to work on breakfast. Now wasn't the time to be sad. If he was sad, Hank would notice, and if he was sad, Hank would probably be sad, and goddamn it, it was Christmas. Neither of them should be sad. So, he soldiered on. 

   When he heard the bathroom door open and close again, he'd assumed Hank had gotten out of the shower. Instead of looking over, knowing the human had a terrible habit of not bringing a change of clothes with him into the bathroom for when he was done showering (that is, to say, he 'let it all hang'), Connor continued busying himself with cooking. He must have been correct in thinking that trend would continue because he heard Hank's room door a moment later, to which he was thankful for his impeccable memory, but also not because his impeccable memory had been the thing that had made him learn not to look over when Hank got out of the shower anymore in the first place. Small favors, he muses. 

   He only looks over when Hank emerges from his room, and the older man is wearing something Connor hasn't seen yet, even though he was sure he'd seen him wear everything in his closet so far in the month and then some they've been living together. Apparently not, because he was wearing a Christmas sweater.

   Connor has to literally stifle a laugh because it's so him, but even though it's fitting in the metaphorical sense, it isn't physically. Connor's guessing that thing is a couple years old, cuz the way it fits on Hank now looks kinda unnatural, with the sleeve ending slightly above his wrists, even though garments like this are supposed to go all the way down to your wrists in an attempt to keep the person wearing it warm. He's also wearing his still dripping hair back in a ponytail. "Very suiting." He decides to say, passing it off as if he was laughing at the words on the sweater and not the sweater itself. 

  "This thing was a pain in the ass to fucking find, I haven't worn it in years," Hank said. He took his usual seat at the table, seeming to notice the donuts. "Of course, you'd plan some big old Christmas breakfast thing. You even put sprinkles on the donuts."

   "I would have ordered them with the sprinkles already put on, but that company doesn't seem to do Christmas themed donuts."

   "And peppermint coffee creamer."

  "To sate your need for peppermint so you leave the candy canes on the tree alone."

   "Fat chance, I bought them in the first place."

   "Fair, but it fits the theme, so it's there, anyway."

   "What're you making?" Hank finally asks as he watches Connor slice up a pineapple. 

   "Christmas tree shaped waffles," Connor replied proudly. "I found it on Pinterest."

   Hank scoffs. "No one's used Pinterest in I don't know how long."

   "Well, it's their loss."

   A few minutes pass of their usual banter while Connor cooks and Hank munches on a donut, getting up halfway through to get a cup of coffee. He also ventures into the living room and snags a candy cane off the tree, much to Connor's dismay. Not too long after that, the android finally serves breakfast, and Hank seems amazed by the little display on his plate. It almost looks too pretty to eat. "Thanks, Con."

   "No problem, Hank. I hope you like it."

   "If it tastes as good as it looks and smells, which I'm assuming it does." He takes a bite. "Yup, this is fucking amazing."

   Connor smiles and takes a bite of his own breakfast, too. "Thank you, I try."

   The human reaches across the table and ruffles Connor's hair, which is about the most physical contact Connor ever gets out of him. Hank's still warming up to him. Connor just has to be more patient. It's probably hard for Hank to let people as far into his life as he's let Connor. He assumes there hasn't been anyone around in Hank's life since the accident. He knows Hank had been married at some point because of the sticker at Hank's desk that said 'if I wanted to be ignored, I'd talk to my ex-wife', though there's no way of knowing why she isn't in his life anymore. Sumo is probably the closest thing to family the man has had for several years unless you want to count his dear friend Jack Daniels. Connor does not, however, want to count Jack Daniels. So, he doesn't. 

   "So, this is your first Christmas, right?"

   Hank's voice, as it often does, drags Connor from his thoughts. He nods. "I was manufactured August 15th of this year. The only actual holidays I've seen so far are Halloween, and Thanksgiving, although I didn't get to experience Halloween because I was sitting in a warehouse, turned off."

   "And Thanksgiving ain't really much of a holiday." Hank chimes in. He'd made it very clear on Thanksgiving that he'd been interested in three things alone on Thanksgiving-- food, booze, and football. 

   Connor's a bit salty still that he hadn't been around for Halloween, sitting turned off in a CyberLife warehouse instead, but androids hadn't been free at that point in time, so even if he'd been active, he wouldn't have gotten to celebrate. Oh, well. There's always next year. "Out of the holidays that I have researched, I think this one is my favorite. Everything seems really pretty this time of year."

   Hank doesn't reply. He gives a small smile before taking a sip from his coffee cup. 

   After breakfast, they went into the living room and sat by the tree. Connor insisted he was going to get a gift for Hank, so then Hank had gotten a gift for Connor, which made Connor want to get Hank a few more things, which made Hank want to get Connor a few more things, and then they both ended up also getting gifts for Sumo, so now the underneath of the tree was stocked with presents like a couple of kids lived here instead of two adult men and a dog. "You open yours, first. I'm an old man, I've had my fair share of Christmases." Hank said through a yawn. "Open that one first." He adds, pointing to a particular present. 

   Connor picked it up and dully noted that it wasn't wrapped very well, but that just made it more charming, at least to him. All of the gifts for him were wrapped pretty horribly. It made it feel more personal that Hank had wrapped them himself, instead of getting them wrapped by someone else. He smiled as he began to tear the paper, and...

   It was a sweater. It was green, similar to Hank's, and had a dog on it, which only proved to make Connor's smile grew more. He looked up from the present to Hank. "Thank you, Hank, I love it..." He poured as much appreciation as he could into the words as he could, given that he really did love it. He didn't waste a second after that in unfolding the garment and slipping it on over what he was currently wearing. Hank smiled.

   "I kinda figured you'd like it."

   "I  _do_  like dogs."

   "Yeah, I know, Con."

   "Open one of your gifts, now, Hank," Connor said. Hank obliged, picking up one of the perfectly wrapped gifts Connor had gotten for him. Of course, it was wrapped so pretty. He bet Connor downloaded some sort of software for perfect gift wrapping or something. He tore the paper off, and took the lid off the box, and inside was some newspaper. Ah, must be a fragile gift. He removed the top layer of newspaper, and underneath was a black coffee mug, which, upon further inspection, had white letters on it. It read 'Yet, despite the look on my face, you're still talking'. "I saw it, and immediately thought of you."

   "Yeah, it's pretty fitting," Hank admitted. "Your turn."

   And so, they took turns opening their presents. Hank got a Knights of the Black Death tee shirt, Connor got another fidget spinner, because Hank knew how much he liked them. Hank got a pair of gloves because Connor reminded him that winter temperatures in Detroit were unforgiving, and the man always came home with bright red hands from being out in the cold for so long. Even after only knowing each other for a little over a month, it was pretty clear to both of them that they knew each other well.

   They opened a few of Sumo's gifts for him, and the Saint Bernard seemed to like them. A couple new tennis balls and squeaky toys never hurt anyone. Then, despite the fact that Hank thought they were done, Connor said: "Hank, I have one more gift for you."

   Hank blinked a couple times. "Oh? You didn't have to."

   "I wanted to," Connor replied. He picked up a small gift that'd been hiding underneath the tree skirt and handed it to Hank. "I hope you like it."

   Hank ripped the paper, wondering what it was-- it was rectangular and flat. Not very big. Once the paper was unwrapped, he saw a stand. A photo frame? He looked at Connor, who gestured for him to turn it over. Hank did so. 

   The image that greeted him was basically a family photo. There he stood, Connor beside him, and Sumo sitting at their feet as they stood in front of the Christmas tree. "I used photo references in my memory to create this image... I felt if we took an actual picture together it would be obvious." Connor explained. Hank didn't really hear him, too transfixed on the image in front of him. At the top of the frame was a single word. 'Family'. 

   When the human simply stared at it for a much longer moment than Connor had expected, he figured he'd screwed up. Maybe Hank was angry with him now. But, the older man didn't yell at him, like he thought he would. After another few long moments of Hank staring at the picture, Connor was about to say something when Hank hugged him pretty suddenly. Connor was taken aback. Hank didn't show affection towards him very often, so it caught him off guard. "Do... Do you like it?"

   "I love it, Con." He could hear the older man basically holding back tears. He remembered sometimes humans cried when they were happy, too. Emotions were weird, Connor had decided. "Thank you."

   Connor finally returned the gesture, resting his head on the human's shoulder. "Merry Christmas, Hank."  
________________

   They'd ended up sitting on the couch watching the Hallmark channel, which Hank had told Connor had been around for decades, at this point. They were showing a marathon of Christmas movies, both old and new, animated and live action. The first movie they'd caught was called 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', starring Jim Carrey. It was a funny film, and it had Hank laughing out loud at a few points. A quick search on the internet told Connor that the movie had come out at the turn of the century in 2000, so Hank would have only been 15 years old when it came out. He would have still been a child, so this movie probably had some nostalgia factor to it. Connor had to admit that he quite liked the movie, too. 

   After How 'The Grinch Stole Christmas' was 'The Polar Express'. It didn't seem like the kind of movie Hank would be into, and it had no childhood nostalgia, as it had come out in 2004 when Hank would have already been an adult. The movie played through its entirety, anyway, though, Hank got up a couple times to snag another unsuspecting candy cane victim from one of the branches of the Christmas tree, or go into the kitchen for a donut. The one time he'd gotten up, he'd gotten hot chocolate for them, at which point in the movie the kids on the train were being served hot chocolate, too. Hank probably did that on purpose. He gave Connor a cup and settled back into his seat, where Sumo laid his head on Hank's lap as the human stirred his chocolatey drink with one of those unsuspecting candy canes.    

   As soon as the human had seen that the next film was going to be an animated classic, called 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', he turned the television off. Connor understood why. It was a children's film, one that parents had been watching with their kids for decades now. He could imagine Hank settling on the couch with his son, and watching it, and apparently, Hank could vividly remember it, because they didn't watch any more TV after that.

   That was fine. It was nearly five in the afternoon, anyways, so Connor decided it was time to start up on dinner. He wore an apron to keep from getting his new sweater dirty. Hank, meanwhile, cleaned up the carnage of bows, wrapping paper and packaging in the living room, while Sumo played with his new squeaky hamburger. 

   On Monday, when the novelty of the holiday had died down, Hank and Connor returned to the DPD for, as Hank put it, 'another day in paradise'. Captain Fowler had called the older man into his office for a briefing, but Hank didn't leave before setting down two things on his desk-- a black coffee mug, and a photo frame.


End file.
